1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a housing of a data processing system, and more particularly, to a housing of a data processing system with a mechanism for easy removal and insertion of a disk drive.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As network systems develop day-by-day, people rely on data processing systems more and more. The data processing system includes personal computers, servers, PDAs, and other devices. A server provides hardware platforms for a virtual private network (VPN), co-location, electronic commerce, ISP, ICP, ASP, and internet gateway, and provides server platforms for client end computers (such as personal computers and PDAs).
Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a 1U server 10 according to the prior art. In order to match with specifications of control rooms, current server producers produce 1U standard servers. The term 1U means the unit height of a server rack inside the control room. One unit is equal to 1.75 inches. Since the standardized 1U servers have light volume, the 1U servers can easily be installed into or removed from the rack. Thus, the 1U servers are popular devices.
The housing of a server 10 is mainly made of metal. The housing comprises a shell 12, two opposite guiding plates 14, and a lower plate 16. A motherboard, a power supply (not shown), and a plurality of disk drives 11, 13 are installed inside the housing of the server 10. Since most severs are designed with hot swap capability, the disk drives 11, 13 inside the server 10 can be removed or inserted during normal operation of the server 10. In order to overhaul and exchange internal components more conveniently, each of two opposite sides of the shell 12 has a sliding rail (not shown). The guiding plates 14 can slide forward and backward along the sliding rails. The lower sides of the guiding plates 14 are connected with two opposite sides of the lower plate 16. When the lower plate 16 receives a pulling force, the lower plate 16 and the two guiding plates 14 slide outward relative to the shell 12 through the cooperation of the guiding plates 14 and the sliding rails. Most of the present servers have the disk drives 11, 13 disposed on the lower plate 16. When the lower plate 16 is pulled out from the shell 12, users can remove the disk drives 11, 13 carried on the lower plate 16 directly and then insert new disk drives.
Please refer to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the 1U server 10 in which a front disk drive is removed from the lower plate 16. The 1U server 10 has a thin thickness. If eight disk drives are planned to be disposed inside the server 10, the eight disk drives will be arranged in two rows. That is, a front row and a rear row. Four front disk drives 11 are disposed on the front row, which is near an outer side of the lower plate 16. Four rear disk drives 13 are disposed on the rear row, which is near an inner side of the lower plate 16. Before exchanging the disk drives in the server 10, the lower plate 16 must be pulled out first so that the front disk drives 11 and the rear disk drives 13 can be removed or inserted. Since the front disk drives 11 on the front row are near the outer side of the lower plate 16, users can directly remove or insert the front disk drives 11 in a hot swap manner. However, if users want to exchange the rear disk drives 13, users must remove all of the front disk drives 11 first in order to get enough space for removing or inserting the rear disk drives 13. Since the prior art exchanging method is so inconvenient, most of the present servers have the disk drives disposed in a single row manner. Therefore, the present technology does not allow all front and rear disk drives to be exchanged in a hot swap manner at the same time when the disk drives are arranged in a two-row manner.
This problem arises because the prior art server 10 has a limitation of space. The front and rear disk drives are arranged closely together. The rear disk drives are disposed near the inner side of the lower plate 16, meaning that it is difficult to remove or insert the rear disk drives. Increasing the inner space of the server 10 increases the volume of the server 10 as well. Therefore, a housing with a mechanism which allows the front and rear disk drives inside the server to be easily removed or inserted, and does not increase the volume of the server (data processing system), is a major research topic of computer producers.
It is therefore a primary objective of the claimed invention to provide a housing of a data processing system with a mechanism for easy removal and insertion of a disk drive, so as to increase convenience when exchanging disk drives inside the data processing system.
The first embodiment of the claimed invention discloses a housing of a data processing system with a mechanism for easy removal and insertion of a disk drive. The housing comprises a shell, two opposite guiding plates, a rear plate, and a front plate. The shell has two opposite side walls, each with a sliding rail. The two opposite guiding plates are capable of sliding forward and backward along the sliding rails. Rear sections of the two guiding plates are connected to the rear plate. A front section of each guiding plate has at least a step-shaped guiding groove. Two opposite side plates of the front plate can slide between a first level and a second level of the guiding grooves. The rear plate and the front plate carry a plurality of front disk drives and rear disk drives. When the front plate slides to the first level of the guiding groove, the front plate is jointed with the rear plate. When the front plate slides to the second level of the guiding groove, the front plate is stepped away from the rear plate so that the front and rear disk drives are both exposed. Therefore, users can remove or insert the rear disk drives in hot swap manner directly, but do not need to remove all of the front disk drives first.
The second embodiment of the claimed invention housing comprises a shell, two opposite guiding plates, a rear plate, and a front plate. The shell has two opposite side walls, each with a sliding rail. The two opposite guiding plates are capable of sliding forward and backward along the sliding rails. The rear plate carries a plurality of rear disk drives. The front plate carries a plurality of front disk drives. Each of two opposite sides of the front plate has at least a step-shaped guiding groove. The two guiding plates can slide between a first level and a second level of the guiding grooves. When the two guiding plates slide into the second level of the guiding groove, the front plate is jointed with the rear plate. When the two guiding plates slide into the first level of the guiding groove, the front plate is stepped away from the rear plate so that the front and rear disk drives are both exposed. Therefore, users can remove or insert the rear disk drives in a hot swap manner directly, but do not need to remove all of the front disk drives first.
It is an advantage that the claimed invention housing of the data processing system can increase convenience when exchanging the disk drives inside the data processing system. The rear disk drives can be removed or inserted directly, and do not need to have all of the front disk drives removed first. The mechanism of the claimed invention housing makes the exchanging operation more convenient.
These and other objectives of the claimed invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment which is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.